The alternate dimension boiled once again.
Golden radiance and crimson chakra collided wildly.
Hashirama's appearance was completely different from before.
The phantoms of the Nine Tailed Beasts surrounded his body. Cross-shaped star patterns flickered in his pale orange eyes, and the black Truth-Seeking Orbs unique to the Six Paths could faintly be seen behind him.
For the first time, Urashiki felt genuine pressure.
"Damn it... What exactly is this power?!"
"You've got to be kidding me?!"
Otsutsuki Urashiki gritted his teeth and growled. His figure flickered repeatedly as afterimages, trying to use Yomotsu Hirasaka to widen the distance.
But no matter how many spatial gates he opened, Hashirama could always accurately predict where he would appear. The combined attacks formed from Wood Release and Tailed Beast chakra followed him like a shadow.
"Wood Release: Wood Dragon Technique: Tailed Beast Bomb!"
Several wood dragons simultaneously condensed black Tailed Beast Bombs in their mouths, then crashed down with an aura capable of destroying heaven and earth.
Urashiki was forced to block them with his fishing rod, but the impact left both his arms numb, and the cracks in his red berserk form spread even further.
"It's useless. The me right now isn't someone you can defeat.", Senju Hashirama spoke calmly.
"Shut up! You monster who's been corrected by the plot!", Urashiki roared.
A brief vision of the future flashed through his eyes. His body twisted strangely, narrowly avoiding the fatal blow, then he swung his hand back and sent out a dense web of chakra-draining threads.
The moment the threads approached, they were directly melted by the golden radiance surrounding Hashirama.
"It's useless."
"You can't beat me."
Hashirama calmly repeated.
"F*ck!!"
Urashiki was thrown into complete panic.
He finally realized that the Hashirama before him was no longer the God of Shinobi whom he had been able to suppress earlier. He had become some kind of existence forcibly pushed to a higher level.
"You've got to be kidding me... I'm a transmigrator! How could I possibly fail here?!"
Otsutsuki Urashiki was afraid now. The longer the fight went on, the worse the situation seemed.
He suddenly pushed all his strength to the limit, trying to open Yomotsu Hirasaka again and escape this alternate dimension directly.
But in the next second...
The moment the spatial gate cracked open, it was forcibly closed by an invisible yet absolute force.
Urashiki froze.
His face suddenly became filled with extreme fear.
"What?! Space... has been sealed?!"
He frantically tried again. Once, twice, three times...
All of his space-time ninjutsu failed, as though this alternate dimension had been completely cut off from the rules.
High above in the void, Arisu expressionlessly withdrew his finger. It was he who had secretly sealed off all the spatial passages.
Urashiki's face instantly turned deathly pale.
"No... No way... I can clearly still sense the flow of space... So why can't I open it?!"
Hashirama gave him no chance to catch his breath.
"It's over."
He brought his hands together, and the phantoms of the Nine Tailed Beasts roared simultaneously.
The enormous statue of the Thousand-Armed True Buddha rose from the ground once again. This time, every arm held a black Truth-Seeking Orb containing Tailed Beast chakra.
"Sage Art: Wood Release: True Several Thousand Hands: Tailed Beast Multiple Bombs!"
Countless Truth-Seeking Orbs, carrying the power to destroy heaven and earth, rained toward Urashiki like a meteor shower.
"AAAAAAAH!!!!!!"
Urashiki let out an unwilling roar as his crimson fishing rod transformed into his final barrier.
But the barrier lasted for less than half a second before being completely torn apart.
"No!!!"
Otsutsuki Urashiki shouted in terror.
The Truth-Seeking Orbs pierced through his body.
His crimson berserk form instantly collapsed. Otsutsuki Urashiki's figure shattered piece by piece amid the golden radiance, finally turning into countless scattered points of light before completely disappearing within the alternate dimension.
Silence.
Hashirama stood where he was, his chest rising and falling violently.
The next second, the sacred golden radiance around him and the phantoms of the Tailed Beasts receded like a tide.
The chakra of the Nine Tailed Beasts and the power of Six Paths Mode all disappeared without a trace in an instant.
A tremendous feeling of exhaustion pressed down like a mountain.
"It's over...."
Hashirama's vision went black, and his entire body went limp as he fell downward.
The alternate dimension began to collapse.
Higher up, Arisu quietly watched this scene, the corner of his mouth curling into the faintest arc.
"Finally got rid of him.", Arisu muttered under his breath.
Just before the alternate dimension completely collapsed, Arisu reached out and grabbed at empty space.
Senju Hashirama's unconscious body was lifted by an invisible force, then gently placed outside the door of the Hokage's office.
The morning sunlight had just climbed onto the rooftops of Konoha.
After Senju Tobirama finished dealing with the paperwork that had piled up overnight, he opened the door to get some fresh air, only to freeze completely the moment he stepped outside.
"Big Brother?!"
Hashirama's robes were torn, his body covered in bloodstains and burn marks that had not yet completely faded, and his face was frighteningly pale. He simply lay there quietly in the corridor outside the door.
Tobirama practically pounced onto him in an instant, placing his fingers against his neck as chakra surged wildly into his body to sense his condition.
His heart was still beating.
But his chakra... had almost been completely drained.
Tobirama's pupils suddenly contracted.
"How is this possible..."
Senju Tobirama whispered in shock.
His big brother's chakra reserves were almost universally recognized throughout the shinobi world as "inexhaustible." Even the Tailed Beasts could hardly compare.
Yet now, this God of Shinobi renowned for his immense chakra had actually lost consciousness because his chakra had been excessively depleted?
What kind of terrifying battle had he gone through to push Hashirama to this point?
But immediately afterward, Tobirama suddenly realized something even stranger.
As a shinobi with exceptionally powerful sensory abilities, he had actually been completely unaware of this battle from last night until this morning.
He hadn't sensed even the slightest trace of chakra fluctuations.
"Something's wrong."
Tobirama had no time to think about it. He immediately picked up Hashirama and formed a hand seal.
"Flying Thunder God Technique!"
Space twisted in an instant, and the two disappeared from the corridor, appearing directly inside the deepest special-care ward of Konoha's medical department.
———
Three days and three nights.
The medical team had practically exhausted every effort they had, while Mito personally assisted with sealing techniques and chakra regulation. Only then did Hashirama finally stabilize his life force.
On the morning of the third day, the light in the hospital room was soft.
Hashirama's eyelashes trembled slightly before he slowly opened his eyes.
What entered his view were two faces filled with worry and exhaustion: Uzumaki Mito and Senju Tobirama.
"Hashirama!"
Mito's eyes instantly reddened. She practically threw herself at him and hugged him tightly, her voice carrying a suppressed sob.
"You're finally awake... What happened to you? You scared me to death..."
Hashirama raised his still somewhat weak hand and gently returned his wife's embrace. His voice was hoarse but gentle. "It's all right now, Mito. I'm sorry for making you worry."
He gently patted Mito's back, comforting her just as he had countless times before.
The two quietly exchanged a few words that only they could understand, and only then did the atmosphere ease somewhat.
Tobirama had been standing beside the bed the entire time. Only after the couple had settled down emotionally did he speak at an appropriate moment, his voice carrying obvious gravity.
"Big Brother, what exactly happened?"
"Uchiha Madara is already dead. Who else in this world could force you into this state? Your chakra was almost completely drained, and even I couldn't sense that the battle had happened..."